The Four Spent the Day Together features individuals pursuing clean slates, struggling to escape substance abuse or toxic relationships, only to see hope turn into conflict. The author often employs the phrase "new beginning", rendering it intentionally weary through its repetitions. Phrases such as "He aimed to start over" and "They opted for a clean break" are scattered across the text. And yet, she seems to be making her own fresh start, since this presents as a novel form of writing – observational, truly literary. However it turns out to be filled with the recurring issues and approaches as past novels.
From Unplanned Author to Renowned Book
Kraus was originally an visual artist who became a writer almost accidentally with her 1997 groundbreaking book I Love Dick, made up of missives to a distant beloved, transforming intimate women's literature from abjection into rebellion. She persisted as a writer, but the following three engaging and challenging novels did not possess the power and directness that the correspondence format imparted to the tone of I Love Dick. This was not aided by was her position as a renegade artist who had turned into a major property owner, so there was significant attention on real estate deals. It follows that she currently desires to explore fresh narrative sources, directing her gaze to other people's stories, at a time when she claims that Trumpian politics renders personal narrative redundant.
Multiple Generations, Shared Inescapable History
The Four Spent the Day Together is divided into three sections, covering three generations – all unable to escape their pasts. There is the tale of a couple named Emma and Jasper, versions of Kraus's parents, relocating from the New York borough to the Connecticut countryside. There is the narrative of the author, in the persona of protagonist Catt Greene, reckoning with the belated success of I Love Dick, the emergence of Trump, and her addict husband Paul. And there is the account of a killing of one directionless individual by another in a town largely deserted by liberal ideals only a brief drive from Catt's cottage in the Minnesota countryside.
As a reader fond of polished prose of the type Kraus herself tends to eschew, I was seduced by the novelistic voice of the initial segment.
As someone who reads drawn to precise prose of the style that the author usually avoids, I was captivated by the novelistic voice of the first section. It exhibits a fresh level of observation that allows space for small details, like the bucket that the youthful Catt pries out of frozen water at the opening of the book, aided by her beloved father. "Look, an ice toy!" she declares; "a lovely toy", he responds, "the elliptical meanings of words tumbling in their mouths like sweet treats". The author narrates the tale of Emma with curiosity and intimacy. "Emma felt like she'd stepped into a dream – not hers, exactly."
Letdown and Fragmentation
I was fated to feel let down when I wished this new voice could last out the book. Kraus says here that she dislikes the pleasure those who appreciate polished prose have derived from I Love Dick; she's committed to disjunction, to the messy artistic approach she shares with her idol author Kathy Acker, and the emptiness and redundancy of her past books reasserts itself in the middle section. The protagonist is working on refurbishing three dozen dilapidated units in Albuquerque's worst neighbourhoods while traveling between Minnesota and LA, unable to aid Paul curb his addiction. She experiences powerlessness as Paul transitions between underfunded jobs as an addiction therapist in a world propelled by the anger and fear that powers a political win. There are several pages about Catt's social media ostracism on social media, her occupation changed from "author" to "property owner" on the online encyclopedia. The author still appears to be overly concerned about this. At one point she states that she's investigating the murder so that before departing the state, "she might be able to learn something about an America that her online critics would fail to comprehend, would overlook entirely".
The Killing Story
So then we come to the homicide in question – and the eponymous day experienced by the victim with the murderer and his companions. The author possesses great source material, and reconstructs step by step what transpired when a man named Brandon came to meet Brittney after encountering her on a platform where she offered adult photos. He sought a sexual encounter but seems amiably to have occupied the day alongside her friends, wandering about getting his car mended and paying for snacks and drugs, before being murdered by her romantic interest Micah – a youth with psychological issues who has frequently been hospitalised for violent rage.
Fascination and Incompletion
The protagonist becomes fixated by the narrative, and I found myself captivated by the way that the author's conflicting impulses towards responsible documentation and daring boundary-pushing tussle in this section. However, I would have preferred her to delve deeper into her individual preoccupations here. The compelling persona is the character Brittney, who becomes vivid in part due to Catt's identification with her – a similarly gifted, tormented individual spiraling out of control in a troubled, forgotten town. Kraus tells us that the protagonist communicates with Brittney in detention, but she omits the dramatization of these talks. The complete segment feels oddly unfinished, to the degree that her narrative ends almost mid-par
